[PLUG] 2013-05-14 PLUG N F/U

[JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org>]

First, thanks to Jonathan for the cool Etherpad demo & talk.  I was not 
aware of all the interesting plugins available.

As I mentioned last night on the list, you can try out Etherpad in ~5 
mins by using a "TurnKey Linux Appliance" from 
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/etherpad.


Someone (sorry, I didn't catch your name) got volunteered to do an 
"Intro to Python" preso at some point, and Walt will do "Scientific 
Programming with NumPy and SciPy" at PLUG W next week, hopefully.  I 
will note that there is a free Python textbook (based on a Java 
textbook) _Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist_ 
(http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.pdf) along with a 
gazillion other books and references, of course.


We also talked about revision control.  I'm in the minority in favoring 
Canonical's Bzr, but I find the Python-based cross-platform tool much 
friendlier than git, which excellent graphical and CLI tools.  They have 
some great docs starting with http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/BzrWhy 
and especially 
http://doc.bazaar.canonical.com/migration/en/why-switch-to-bazaar.html.

While BZR has great GUI tools, SVN does not (unless you use TortoiseSVN, 
which I don't).  But I do have Python26 on my XP VM, so I can run Zim 
and Meld, and so I got Meld to work as the external GUI diff tool for 
our work SVN.  It was a pain to figure out but easy enough to do, ask me 
if you care.

And related to both of the above, to get started with revision control 
servers:
	http://www.turnkeylinux.org/all?filter=Mercurial&viewsearch=
		http://www.turnkeylinux.org/revision-control
		http://www.turnkeylinux.org/redmine
		http://www.turnkeylinux.org/trac

Redmine and Trac are particularly interesting since revision control is 
only a subset of the project management features they provide.

And for all you git fans with bleeding eyeballs: 
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/gitlab


Finally, and OT, Walt & I were talking about the pain of Windows 
desktops, and I mentioned two tools.  The first I can't live without, 
and mitigates the second for me.

TaskArrange:
	"TaskArrange is a simple utility that lets you rearrange the buttons of 
the Windows taskbar."
	"Sometimes we open our programs in a specific sequence, to keep their 
taskbar buttons in a desired order. But what happens if a program 
crashes or we close it, and then we open it again?"

Like Walt, when stuck on Windows I usually accumulate a lot of windows 
(I have 37 right now on my XP VM for work).  I'd be lost if they were in 
random order, but with TaskArrange I keep them all in the same place all 
the time.  It may be a bit less useful on Win7, given the arbitrarily 
screwy way that deals with the task bar, but it still works (I just 
tried it, without installing it or using admin rights).  The source site 
went away, but it's still here: 
http://web.archive.org/web/20111206172151/http://users.forthnet.gr/pat/efotinis/programs/taskarrange.html. 
 I just downloaded the tiny zip and the MD5 matches my previous copy.

WindowsPager:
	"WindowsPager is a desktop-switcher/pager for Windows Vista/7/XP/2000 
to manage 'virtual' workspaces/desktops.  It will integrate smoothly 
into the desktop panel."

Because of TaskArrange I hadn't actually used this one until I tested it 
out just now on both XP and Win7.  Again, no install or admin rights. 
It Just Worked and was totally awesome on XP.  It also Just Works on 
Win7, but I found it more confusing due to the dumb eye-candy preview 
cruft Win7 likes when you right-click a button on the task bar.  But 
http://windowspager.sourceforge.net/documentation.html is pretty clear.

Later,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/
My Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
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